Review of The Hobbit (1977) by Braden J — 31 May 2009

In 1977, The Hobbit , the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy classic set in Middle-earth was adapted into this excellent animated feature first broadcast on television by my all-time favorite animation studio - Rankin/Bass. The studio's regular producer Romeo Muller worked on a script, which is faithful to Tolkien's story; of course some parts were lefted out. The vocal cast can't be improved upon: Orson Bean is perfect as Bilbo Baggins, the timorous, homebody hobbit who grows brave on his adventure with the wizard Gandalf, voiced by John Huston. Otto Preminger is the voice of the Elvenking of Mirkwood, Richard Boone is Smaug, Hans Conreid is Thorin (I love the talents of Hans Conreid), and Brother Theodore is very effective as the weird and creepy Gollum.

I don't favorite a scene (as I said many times), because I love the WHOLE film, and I also would like to say that the voice-casting for the film is...top-notch, and I love Lester Abrams and Tsuguyuki Kubo's character designs (not many people don't). And I also love Maury Laws' renditions of the book's original songs for the soundtrack.